Claude McKay was one of the twentieth century’s finest poets and Songs of Jamaica (1912) was his first published work. This pioneering collection, written in Jamaican Patois, was the first of its kind. In the opening poem ‘Quashie to Buccra’ he asserts the worker’s voice:

“You tas’e petater an’ you say it sweet, But you no know how hard we wuk fe it; You want a basketful fe quattiewut, ’Cause you no know how ’tiff de bush fe cut.”

This collection includes the poems:

QUASHIE TO BUCCRA
MY NATIVE LAND, MY HOME
BENEATH THE YAMPY SHADE
WHEN YOU WANT A BELLYFUL
KILLIN’ NANNY
KING BANANA
HARD TIMES
MOTHER DEAR
CUDJOE FRESH FROM DE LECTURE
TO CLARENDON HILLS AND H. A. H.
STROKES OF THE TAMARIND SWITCH
SCHOOL-TEACHER NELL’S LUB-LETTER